Abe pushes for more active Japanese militaryby Staff WritersTokyo (AFP) May 15, 2014

US air power on display at Philippines war gamesCrow Valley, Philippines (AFP) May 15, 2014 - US aircraft dropped bombs and marines tore forward under artillery fire in war games in the Philippines on Thursday, weeks after the allies signed a defence deal against a backdrop of flaring Chinese tensions with its neighbours.

The live rounds made a dull thud and kicked up dust as they rained down on a dry riverbed in the northern Philippines at the start of the hour-long manoeuvres, involving about 100 American and 200 Filipino marines.

"We're training to take over a key enemy position," US Marines spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jay de la Rosa told AFP from a nearby ridge observation point, as F/A-18 and A-10 aircraft unloaded their payloads.

Artillery shells also poured down from nearby hilltops before V-22 Osprey aircraft and conventional military helicopters made paratroop drops of marines on the simulated battlefield, later joined by colleagues aboard armoured vehicles.

Thursday's manoeuvres came at the end of 10 days of annual war games between the US and its close ally the Philippines, involving 5,500 troops and this year addressing security issues in the flashpoint South China Sea.

China is engaged in increasingly tense rows with both the Philippines and Vietnam over the sea, which is believed to harbour vast oil and gas resources and which China claims almost in its entirety.

Thursday's event was held at Crow Valley, a former gunnery range for American forces that were stationed at two nearby large military installations until 1992.

The allies signed a deal last month to give US forces greater access to Filipino bases in the former US colony.

The United States has said it does not take a position on the territorial disputes, but has criticised what it said were "provocative" acts by China to assert its claims.

US President Barack Obama, in a state visit to Manila in late April, also made an "ironclad" pledge to defend the Philippines, with which it has a mutual defence treaty, if attacked.

The Philippines released photographs on Thursday to back its claim that China is reclaiming land on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, in an apparent effort to build an airstrip.

In Vietnam, anti-China riots on Thursday triggered by the communist neighbours' own territorial dispute left a Chinese worker dead and 100 injured.

The Chinese claims to the South China Sea also overlap those of Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

Nationalist prime minister Shinzo Abe set out his case Thursday for beefing up pacifist Japan's rules of engagement, saying he wants the armed forces to be able to enter battle in defence of allies.

Citing a rising climate of disquiet in north and southeast Asia, Abe said Japan needs to cast off constitutional strictures that have prevented its so-called Self Defence Forces from firing a shot in combat since 1945.

"As prime minister, I have the responsibility to protect the lives of people under any circumstances," he told reporters in Tokyo.

"I don't think the constitution says we have to abandon the responsibility to protect the lives of people.

"If we can enhance our deterrence, it will prevent our country from being involved in war."

Around 500 people demonstrated against the prime minister's plans near his official residence, with some carrying banners that read "Exercising collective defence is equal to waging war".

The prime minister has long nurtured a desire to see more flexibility in Japan's pacifist constitution, which was imposed by the occupying United States in the aftermath of Tokyo's World War II defeat.

Article 9 of the document -- which has reportedly been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize -- says Japan forever renounces the use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

For decades, governments have held that this means Japan's military may only open fire if fired upon, even if that entails leaving US counterparts in danger on the same battlefield.

Unable to change the constitution because of deep domestic resistance, Abe has argued for the next-best thing: a reinterpretation of the laws to permit "collective defence".

A panel of academics, diplomats and military advisers convened by the prime minister has come up with a series of proposals on possible legal frameworks for military action.

Over the coming months, Abe will use this document to persuade a sometimes-sceptical public of his case as he looks to shepherd his plans through the labyrinth of Japan's political system.

The move is controversial and risks forcing a split with his ruling party's coalition partner, New Komeito, secular Buddhists without whom Abe does not have an outright majority in the upper house of parliament.

"It will be the first reinterpretation of the constitution by a politician in Japan," said Tomoaki Iwai, professor of Japanese politics at Nippon University in Tokyo.

"It's going to be a turning point in the country's politics," Iwai said, adding he expected the formal reinterpretation that Abe wants by the end of the year.

- Memories of an imperialist past -

Voters are lukewarm on the idea; a poll of more than 2,000 adults nationwide showed 63 percent oppose the concept of collective defence, the Asahi Shimbun reported last month.

That was up from 56 percent last year and more than double the 29 percent who support the idea, the poll showed.

Abe wastes no opportunity to remind his audience, both at home and abroad, of Japan's track record since 1945.

"We have consistently walked on the path of pacifism for 70 years after the war and there will be no change to this," he said Thursday.

Despite this repeated reassurance, his drive to strengthen the military triggers intense emotions in China and on the Korean peninsula, where memories linger of Tokyo's brutal expansionism in the last century.

Beijing has sought to paint the prime minister as an atavistic militarist, bent on resurrecting the warmongering of imperialist Japan.

A spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry said on Thursday it had "full reason to be highly vigilant over Japan's true intention and its future development", due to the Abe administration's "unprecendented moves" on military issues.

However, his position is welcomed in Washington, where there have long been calls for Japan to pull its own weight in a very one-sided security alliance.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the move when he held a summit with Abe in Tokyo last month.

Unease in Japan about China's increasing assertiveness, and specifically its strident claims to disputed islands in the East China Sea, has helped bolster Abe's push to enhance the role of the military.

US air power on display at Philippines war gamesCrow Valley, Philippines (AFP) May 15, 2014 US aircraft dropped bombs and marines tore forward under artillery fire in war games in the Philippines on Thursday, weeks after the allies signed a defence deal against a backdrop of flaring Chinese tensions with its neighbours.
The live rounds made a dull thud and kicked up dust as they rained down on a dry riverbed in the northern Philippines at the start of the hour-long manoeuvres, invo ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes.
AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties.
Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement
All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.